In the dental clinic’s high-tech laboratory

The missionary hospital’s service technician André Bacher has a lot to do these days. His latest challenge was a steriliser that needed to be fixed in the dental clinic. He quickly found the problem’s cause: a small shutter responsible for the water drainage had stopped functioning. But where should one find the required spare part in the Peruvian mountains? Fortunately André Bacher and Tibor Minge work in a solution-orientated way.

Das fertige Produkt ist ein Ergebnis der Perfektion.

Thus they came up the following plan: we will make the spare part ourselves and will proceed in this way:
1. Design it in a Free CAD-Programme.
2. Print the designed part in the laboratory’s 3-D printer.
3. Exchange the broken part with the new part.

Tibor Minge writes: “It was only a small shutter, but it was a big step for us mechatronics engineers. Who knows what André Bacher will print in future!”

Pastor Marco Acuña visits former patients in the mountains

Lorries and buses travel many kilometres on Peru’s cross country roads and it is along these routes that money travels. Some houses are plastered, many have windows and the corner shops have plenty of wares to sell. Tourists delight in the many souvenirs and quickly fill their suitcases and rucksacks. They fall over themselves getting out of their tour buses, hastily take “the holiday photo” and rush back to their groups, since the guides urge them to hurry, since the next scenic point is waiting for them. But true Peru is found somewhere totally different. If you travel 20 or 30 kilometres upcountry from the Panamericana you are met by a totally different reality. No one knows this reality better than Pastor Marco Acuña, who, commissioned by Diospi Suyana, goes to the out of the way farmsteads of former patients.

The people love his visits and they express their thanks about the missionary hospital. The following pictures capture some of Marco’s impressions of his latest trip through Ayacucho State. These excursions are not easy. At the end of his current report the young Peruvian writes: ”Not everything that I experience is rosy-red. For my work I need God’s protection and strength. I experience all sorts of weather and am obliged to eat what is set before me. It happens occasionally that I cannot find the patients I am looking for. Then I feel disheartened and as though I have not achieved anything. Several of my journeys are dangerous and the paths extremely narrow. Some drivers speed manically round bends and at those moments I just pray that God will somehow keep us from falling in the depths of the valleys. Yes, indeed, I encounter many difficulties working as an evangelist, but nothing exists that with God’s help I cannot overcome. I can do everything through Jesus Christ who gives me inner strength!”

3 questions to ponder:

Is faith in Jesus Christ worth taking such exertions upon oneself?

What do you think of devout people who spend hours on their knees?

If the faith of the Quechuas helps them to overcome alcoholism and superstition, could not also God help you in the rich Western World?

The same family standing in front of their alpaca herd.

Visiting another Quechua family. Their living quarters are behind us.

Incredibly thankful for Marco Acuña’s encouragement.

A couple prays deeply moved.

Prayer meeting in a church. Quechuas praying on their knees and the hours steadily pass by.

Manuel and Christina Rosenkranz pay their first visit to Diospi Suyana

They have an excellent tour guide: over the past few days teacher Jonathan Rosenkranz has shown his parents Diospi Suyana’s various locations. Large hats against the sun and a bottle of water in hand: that is how one can survive in the current warm temperatures here in Curahuasi.

Helped by his employer Manuel Rosenkranz will design a shredder for hospital waste – an utmost useful tool – the details of which he will discuss with Oebele de Haan.

“We did not imagine the hospital and the school to be this big!” marvels Christina. Twice the Rosenkranz have heard a talk about Diospi Suyana. But being there in person far outweighs even the best PowerPoint Presentation!

At 4p.m. they meet engineer Udo Klemenz and Dr Klaus John. “15 years ago we also had no idea how this whole project would develop,” comment both of them who have witnessed everything from the start. “But God has done it in the way he has!”

Oon a Saturday morning Dr Benjamin Zeier is quick-witted; something one can expect of an emergency medical technician, an urologist and a future doctor of Diospi Suyana. At the NAW-advanced training course in Berlin entitled “Emergency Transport” the first picture slide showed an Indian arriving at the missionary hospital’s main entrance. “Emergency Transport” on a horse. Simple but effective. In a split second Dr Zeier had captured the picture on his mobile.

Open ears of an elite university’s management team

Dr Klaus John’s conversation with the rector of the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Dr. Luis Varela, lasted one hour. The vice-dean of the medical faculty and the vice-dean of the university’s research department also took part in this top level meeting. After the missionary doctor’s presentation the conversation turned to deeper cooperation opportunities with the Hospital Diospi Suyana.

More than 50 assistant doctors from Cayetano have worked at the missionary hospital. So far 8 missionary doctors have received their professional recognition through the university in Lima.

We are delighted about the wonderful cooperation between the two institutions, which Jens Haßfeld has keenly promoted over the past few years. The latest university rankings have once again confirmed that the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia belongs to the best universities of Latin America.

State of play on the 2nd Advent

Dear Diospi Suyana Friends, for over a week now we have been enjoying a rain-free period with wonderful summer weather and temperatures of 25°C and even more at midday. For Europeans totally inappropriate weather for mince pies and carol singing.

Oebele’s building crane has done its service yet again and has been dismantled and safely put away for when duty calls next.

Our main focus now lies on the access stairway and the screed works.

The chiselling work for the stairwell’s hole has been completed. The tubular steel props which prop up the existing concrete girders as well as the steel girders that prop up the reinforced concrete ceiling – these run parallel to the staircase – are in place. The beam that needs to concreted up has been reinforced and, like the stairway, is currently being encased. The cramped space makes the work quite challenging.

The future lightweight construction walls of the respective offices determined the size of the screed fields.

The masonry work for the new operating theatres continues sporadically, since it is all hands on deck for a couple of hours each time to help make the screed and transport it via the ramp to the second storey.

Due to the height of the works, the constant need to re-set up the scaffolding and the curved shape of the façade makes the work on the rain- gutters and –pipes hard and laboriously slow.

But all in all we are content with the building work’s progress. Cordial greetings and wishing you a blessed 2nd of Advent weekend, Udo

The building crane has been dismantled.

Carting off the crane.

The chiselling work for the stairwell’s hole has been completed. Next to it you can see the steel girder that has to be set in place.

The steel girder that will prop up the staircase is in place.

The new supporting beam has been reinforced. In the background the screed work is progressing nicely.

In the treasury of our educational institution

Many pupils and teachers were present as head of school, Christian Bigalke (front left), formally opened the school library. In his address he reminded his listeners of Peru’s first library that Jesuits founded back in 1568. It was part of the “Colegios Máximo de San Pablo” in Lima.

In 1584 the Italian Antonio Ricardo set up the first printing company and shortly afterwards its first book was published, entitled: “Christian Doctrine and Catechism to be used for teaching Indians and other persons…!”

The Peruvian company Aruntani, the Catholic Mauritius School in Frechen (Germany) and Klett Publishing House donated generously to our school’s library: currently it holds 3,582 books and a collection of didactic materials.

Teacher Jonathan Rosenkranz (front right) is in charge of the library’s organisation. A thank you goes to Christian Oswald who programmed a software packet designed specifically for the borrowing of the books.

We hope that the pupils will understand this choice selection of books as the treasury of the Diospi-Suyana-School. Furthermore, we wish all bookworms great fun whilst reading.

And Gladys Illescas must throw a party

For us doctors it is an incredible situation to experience. The young patient, who a couple of days ago suffered acutely from lack of oxygen, is responsive. At 11 o’clock he greeted Dr Martina John with the words “Gracias” (thank you). The aggressive seizures the boy had suffered during his first night in the hospital had caused us to fear the worst: irreparable brain damage.

On Saturday Gladys Illescas knelt next to his bed and prayed that God do nothing less than a miracle. “God, we will make the following deal: if this boy walks out of our hospital without external support, then I myself will personally organise his birthday party next week!” Now it is Gladys’ turn to fulfil her part of the bargain. After such an unexpected and wonderful turn of events we are sure that many people will come to the boy’s birthday celebration.

When will we meet again?

It was two years ago in a church in Lima that most of the young people on the above photo heard of Diospi Suyana for the first time. Last week they travelled 1,000 km southwards to Curahuasi. Two things motivated them: firstly, they wanted to organise the programme for this year’s children’s festival and, secondly, they wanted to see Diospi Suyana for themselves.

Yesterday the group met in the hospital’s main entrance hall for a farewell photo. As a small thank you each of them was given a trilingual picture-book about the start of our mission. The book is entitled “Diospi Suyana”, we trust in God.

As long as people exist they celebrate goodbyes. And each time the question is asked, “When will we meet again?” A German folksong thinks it knows the answer: “Where shall we meet, under the lime trees in the evening!” We do not know, if things will turn out this way. But one thing is sure. Irrespective of when and where, Christians meet under the sign of the cross on which Jesus died and at the same time rejoice together over Christ’s resurrection, symbolised by the rising sun. /KDJ

Our own radio station broadcast a lot of advertising

No one knows exactly how many children’s festivals have been celebrated in Diospi Suyana’s Amphitheatre, but one thing we do know for certain: yesterday we set a new record number of children attending the party. In the past few days our own radio station had done a lot of advertising.

Despite the rainy season Curahuasi enjoyed ideal weather conditions and even gave us a breath-taking view of the snow-covered mountains. 24 volunteers from the Misión Iglesia Bíblica Carismática organised the programme entitled: “We celebrate our Creator!”

Music and sketches alternated, but were joined together by the programme’s central theme: thank God, our Creator. Our TV-team ensured a live-broadcasting on Facebook.

It goes without saying that at the end of the event the children were given a going-home-Christmas-bag. We had estimated that 1,000 children would come; 1,300 presents were handed out, but still not everyone got one. 2,000 people (grown-ups included) sat in the Amphitheatre.

We cordially thank Gladys Illescas de Hurtado, who organises our 12 children clubs, and our volunteers from Lima and Curahuasi for this wonderful afternoon. Misión Iglesia Bíblica Carismática has supported Diospi Suyana’s work for two years now, for example by paying the salary for one of our doctors.